Beat the price jump at the pumps

Petrol roared past £1 a litre last week, but it’s easy to cut costs  and $100 oil could be a great opportunity for investors

FAMILIES started to feel the pinch from record oil prices last week as petrol went above £1 a litre for the first time, and analysts warn utility bills are to rise too.

Crude ended the week at $96.36 a barrel, just shy of the record $98.62 (£47) it hit on Wednesday, but analysts believe momentum could take it above the $100 barrier in the coming days. The oil price is now within striking distance of the $101 it reached in real terms in 1980, after the Iranian revolution - though the nominal price then was just $39.

Jeffrey Currie at Goldman Sachs, the investment bank that was one of the first to predict $100 oil, said: "Prices could well trade above their previous peaks in the short term as cold winter weather and geopolitical tensions exacerbate supply shortages."